Michael's Musings

As you likely already know, my publisher is releasing five installments from my picture book series on January 31st, 2012. (They’re also in development as iPad apps — the first one is already out. Cheers to The Pirate Koostoe, which is this week’s iHeartThisApp App of the Week!)

Anyway, even though Koostoe is the story getting the most heat right now, I want to draw attention to each of the titles, which all have something special to offer. To help with this, every nine days or so, I’m going to be giving away two signed copies of one of the titles. The current giveaway is for Builda the Re-Bicycler:

Since I’m giving the book away, I decided to write a little bit about the beginnings of Builda. I also posted this as my self-review on Goodreads, but here is some back story.

Builda the Re-Bicycler grew out of four distinct elements that co-mingled in just the right way. They were:

1) A concept. I’ve always been interested in the idea of the “butterfly effect.” As I got ready to write what became this book, I found myself wanting to explore how one well-placed choice or action can ripple across a community.

2) An image. A few weeks before I started this story, I had this dream in which a tangled tower of discarded objects threatened to topple upon me. (Anyone who has seen my work desk knows that this is a very real possibility.)

3) A sentence. The opening sentence of Builda was one I’d written at least a year before the book proper: “The town of Midlandia was bicycle-crazy!” I loved the way that sentence sounded aloud, but I had no idea what story it could lead off. Until:

4) A word. The day before I started draft one, a single word popped into my head: “re-bicycling.” I didn’t know what it meant, exactly, but when that word careened off that opening sentence, and the sentence pinwheeled into that image, and the image brushed shoulders with the concept…Builda the Re-Bicycler was born.

And for the record, the spread that shows the towering bike pile? One of my absolute favorite in the series. The artists’ use of color, the fine detail — the picture is a technical wonder and also quite moving. I highly suggest you check it out, especially because in this case, the print book will be out at least a month before the app version.